Sunday breakfast with Neil Perry
Ellie Parker 31 January 2011
The Blood Red Snapper is the latest and most ambitious entrant into Melbourne’s breakfast scene. It’s not a café, nor is it a food. It is a bright red drink, with a bright red kick. And it lives at The Waiting Room.
At the end of 2010 Neil Perry opened two new establishments in the Crown precinct – a moody little restaurant called Spice Temple and a glamorous bar called The Waiting Room. As the dust settles over this flurry of Perry activity, the chef took some time out to talk breakfast and his new Melbourne bar.
Whilst TWR doesn’t technically offer breakfast, it should nonetheless be considered THE weekend mid-morning recovery destination. In the category of Best Hangover Remedies, TWR wins hands down. And Neil Perry agrees, ‘we’ve got some great hangover drinks. They’re really fantastic. I think they’ve actually got one of the best drinks ever there - it’s called a Red Snapper. It’s kind of like a Bloody Mary but I always think tomato juice is too heavy, I always get about half way through and then think, “OK, that’s enough for breakfast”'. Our Red Snapper on the other hand is a fantastic blend of beetroot juice, celery, a little bit of tomato juice, celeriac salt, spices, gin and citrus- its really light and spicy and just the best drink’.
TWR opens its doors at 10am and by the time you’ve gingerly sipped the last of your sublime Snapper it will likely be noon, by which time TWR starts serving delicate morsels that make for a perfect non-conformist brunch. The montaditos (little open sandwiches), with fillings like Avruga caviar and boiled egg, or Manchego cheese, are humble reminders that bacon and eggs aren’t the be all and end all. More substantial offerings include a selection of tapas dishes baked in baby terracotta dishes, like the Huevos Gitanis (Gypsy eggs). They go fabulously with a tomato bocadillo and a glass of Duvel Leroy Brut Champagne.
This is an incredibly grown-up version of a Champagne breakfast, which is all the more intriguing when you realise it has been imagined up by a chef who’s favourite childhood breakfast was a bacon, egg and strawberry jam toasted sandwich, “I still like to occasionally put strawberry jam on toast as it’s great with bacon – it’s a bit like putting a relish on it”, admits Perry, before adding, “My dad was a butcher so the other thing I used to really enjoy as a kid was lambs fry”. The culinary magic of lambs fry, bacon and strawberry jam appears to be a dying art, both in Perry’s restaurants and in his own home, “my kids are more plain eaters. Times have changed”.
So does Neil Perry take Breakfast Out or does he prefer his jam toasties at home?
“We don’t eat out at all for breakfast, it’s a thing that we have at home because I really love Bircher muesli and we have it for breakfast every day along with a fresh juice. I think it’s one of the reasons why I stay relatively healthy and my weight is fairly controlled. It’s just so fresh and fantastic. We use a beautiful Meredith sheep’s milk yoghurt, honey, freshly grated apple and soaked oats. It’s just a really lovely way to start the day”.
Neil Perry’s consultancy with QANTAS since 1997 has resulted in marked improvements in the quality of our incumbent’s airline food. Which begs the question, how on earth do you serve a good egg mid-air?
“Well I think the most important thing with QANTAS was that we just tried to do it well. In first and business class we scramble the eggs on board, and it was important to be able to do that. And now with the A380s having toasters, the team can make fresh toast. And of course we’ve had a really good granola, a really good Bircher muesli, sheep’s milk yoghurt and good quality fruit - all the sorts of things that make for a good breakfast anywhere, that make for a good café. The sorts of things you want to have for breakfast, but we make sure that the quality isthere.”
Can Neil Perry ever switch off, and not think about food?
“No, my whole world revolves around food. What am I having for lunch? What’s for dinner? Where am I travelling to and what can I eat when I get there? Because I’m creatively doing all the menus for the restaurants as well, I’m just always thinking about it, reading about it…I mean I haven’t read a book that wasn’t a food-related book for 20 years. I’ve got about a thousand cookbooks. It’s part of my life. I even dream about food.
I know some people who go home and eat a bowl of cornflakes for dinner. Food is a part of you for your whole life. Not to take an interest in it would drive me crazy.”
Moral of the story? Cornflakes for dinner is clearly unacceptable. A Snapper for breakfast on the other hand……
Click here for our review of The Waiting Room.